Czech Republic

Czech Republic,

Czech Česká Republika, or

Czechia

(chĕk`ēə), Czech Česko, republic (2005 est. pop. 10,241,000), 29,677 sq mi (78,864 sq km), central Europe. It is bordered by Slovakia on the east, Austria on the south, Germany on the west, and Poland on the north. PraguePrague, Czech Praha, Ger. Prag, city (1993 pop. 1,216,500), capital and largest city of the Czech Republic and former capital of Czechoslovakia, on both banks of the Vltava (Ger. Moldau) River......Click the link for more information. is the capital and largest city. In addition to the capital, major cities include BrnoBrno, Ger. Brünn, city (1991 pop. 388,296), SE Czech Republic, at the confluence of the Svratka and Svitava rivers. It is the second largest city of the Czech Republic and the chief city of Moravia......Click the link for more information., OstravaOstrava, formerly Moravská Ostrava, Ger. Mährisch Ostrau, city (1991 pop. 327,371), NE Czech Republic, in Moravia, near the junction of the Oder and Ostravice rivers......Click the link for more information., and PlzeňPlzeň, Ger. Pilsen, city (1991 pop. 173,008), W Czech Republic, in Bohemia, at the confluence of several rivers. One of the Czech Republic's largest cities, it lies near a belt of coalfields in an area where sugar beets and hops are raised......Click the link for more information..

Land and People

The Czech Republic comprises the former provinces of BohemiaBohemia,Czech Čechy, historic region (20,368 sq mi/52,753 sq km) and former kingdom, in W and central Czech Republic. Bohemia is bounded by Austria in the southeast, by Germany in the west and northwest, by Poland in the north and northeast, and by Moravia in the.....Click the link for more information., MoraviaMoravia, Czech Morava, Ger. Mähren, region in the E Czech Republic. The region is bordered on the W by Bohemia, on the E by the Little and White Carpathian Mts., which divide it from Slovakia, and on the N by the Sudetes Mts......Click the link for more information., and Czech SilesiaSilesia, Czech Slezsko, Ger. Schlesien, Pol. Śląsk, region of E central Europe, extending along both banks of the Oder River and bounded in the south by the mountain ranges of the Sudetes—particularly the Krkonoše (Ger......Click the link for more information., together often called the Czech Lands. In the western part of the republic lies the Bohemian plateau, which is separated by the Bohemian-Moravian heights from the fertile Moravian lowland in the eastern part of the republic. The Sudetes Mts. in the north separate Moravia from Czech Silesia along the Polish border. Agriculture is concentrated in the Moravian lowlands and in the valleys of the Elbe and Vltava rivers.

More than 90% of the people are Czech, with small minorities of Slovaks, Germans, Poles, Romani (Gypsies), and Hungarians; the Romani have been subjected to increased discrimination since the fall of Communist rule. Although many Czechs do not profess a religion, more than 25% are Roman Catholic. There is also a substantial Hussite minority and a smaller group belonging to the Orthodox Church. Czech is spoken by most people; Slovak is also spoken.

Economy

In state hands during the Communist era, much of the Czech Republic's agricultural and industrial sectors was relatively quickly privatized and showed appreciable growth in the early 1990s. Foreign investment was widely sought. An economic slowdown beginning in 1997, however, revealed problems in the transition from government control to a privatized economy, as many large industrial conglomerates with thousands of employees lost money and sought government aid instead of revamping. In 1999–2000 most of the state-owned banks were privatized, with the government assuming responsibility for bad loans; privatization of the telecommunications industry took place in 2005.

The chief crops are wheat and other grains, potatoes, sugar beets, hops, and fruit. Among the country's livestock are hogs, cattle, sheep, and poultry. Manufacturing is the chief economic activity, especially the production of automobiles, machine tools, machinery, glass, and armaments. Iron and steel industries are important in Moravia. Other industries include metalworking, chemicals, and electronics. The republic's rather scant natural resources include hard and soft coal, timber, and uranium. Machinery and transportation equipment, chemicals, raw materials, and fuels are exported, and similar products also constitute the most significant imports. The largest trading partners are Germany, Slovakia, Poland, France, and Italy.

Government

The Czech Republic is governed under the constitution of 1992. The president, who is the head of state, is elected for a five-year term and is eligible for a second term. The prime minister is the head of government. The bicameral Parliament consists of the 81-seat Senate, whose members are elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms, and the 200-seat Chamber of Deputies, whose members are popularly elected for four-year terms. Administratively the country is divided into 13 regions and the capital city.

History

For a detailed history of the Czech Lands see BohemiaBohemia,Czech Čechy, historic region (20,368 sq mi/52,753 sq km) and former kingdom, in W and central Czech Republic. Bohemia is bounded by Austria in the southeast, by Germany in the west and northwest, by Poland in the north and northeast, and by Moravia in the.....Click the link for more information., MoraviaMoravia, Czech Morava, Ger. Mähren, region in the E Czech Republic. The region is bordered on the W by Bohemia, on the E by the Little and White Carpathian Mts., which divide it from Slovakia, and on the N by the Sudetes Mts......Click the link for more information., and CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia, Czech Československo , former federal republic, 49,370 sq mi (127,869 sq km), in central Europe. On Jan. 1, 1993, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic (see Slovakia) became independent states and Czechoslovakia ceased to exist......Click the link for more information.. In response to Slovakia's demands for greater autonomy, Czechoslovakia was on Jan. 1, 1969, declared a federation. The constituent Czech and Slovak republics received autonomy over local affairs, with the federal government responsible for foreign relations, defense, and finance. The Communist regime collapsed in 1989, and in 1990 economic reforms were begun that were especially disruptive in Slovakia, which had a disproportionate share of subsidized state-owned heavy industry. A strong secessionist movement in Slovakia led to a declaration in 1992 that the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic would separate into independent states. In response to the imminent breakup of Czechoslovakia, a new Czech constitution was written. It was implemented with the birth of the new Czech Republic on Jan. 1, 1993.

Václav HavelHavel, Václav, 1936–2011, Czech dramatist and essayist, president of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and the Czech Republic (1993–2003). The most original Czech dramatist to emerge in the 1960s, Havel soon antagonized the political power structure by focusing.....Click the link for more information., who had been president of Czechoslovakia, became the Czech Republic's president; after legislative elections a right-of-center coalition government came into office, headed by Václav KlausKlaus, Václav, 1941–, Czech politician. A staunch free-market economist and leader (1991–2002) of the Civic Democratic party, he has been one of Eastern Europe's more influential post-Communist leaders......Click the link for more information.. The government moved quickly to privatize state-owned businesses, and mutual funds became a popular investment vehicle for a public unused to dealing with a stock market. The Czech Republic actively sought membership in Western institutions and alliances. In 1994 it became an associate member of the European UnionEuropean Union(EU), name given since the ratification (Nov., 1993) of the Treaty of European Union, or Maastricht Treaty, to the European Community (EC), an economic and political confederation of European nations, and other organizations (with the same member nations).....Click the link for more information. (it became a full member ten years later), in 1995 it was admitted to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and DevelopmentOrganization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD), international organization that came into being in 1961. It superseded the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, which had been founded in 1948 to coordinate the Marshall Plan for European economic recovery.....Click the link for more information., and in 1999 it joined the North Atlantic Treaty OrganizationNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO), established under the North Atlantic Treaty (Apr. 4, 1949) by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the United States......Click the link for more information..

Meanwhile, the economy faltered in 1997 and Klaus was forced to resign. Austerity measures were put in place and Josef Tosovsky, a banker, was appointed caretaker prime minister. Havel was reelected in 1998 and, following legislative elections later that year, Social Democrat Miloš Zeman became prime minister, vowing to slow privatization and return more control to the state.

In the 2002 elections the Social Democrat–led coalition was returned to power, but Zeman, who had resigned as party leader prior to the election, was replaced as prime minister by Vladimír Spidla. Václav Klaus was elected president in 2003, succeeding the retiring Havel. In 2004, after the Social Democrats made a poor showing in the European Parliament elections, Spidla only narrowly survived a party confidence vote, and subsequently resigned as prime minister.

Social Democrat Stanislav Gross succeeded Spidla as government leader, but Gross resigned in Apr., 2005, dogged by charges of personal financial impropriety. He was succeeded as prime minister by fellow Social Democrat Jiri Paroubek. In the June, 2006, elections the Civic Democrats won the largest share of the vote and the most seats in parliament, but the Social Democrat–led coalition secured half the seats. The Civic Democrats formed a three-party coalition, and Mirek TopolánekTopolánek, Mirek, 1956–, Czech politician, grad. Brno Univ. of Technology (1987). He worked as a mining engineer and briefly had his own business before his election (1996) to the Czech senate, where he served until 2004......Click the link for more information. became prime minister in August. In October, however, the coalition lost a confidence vote, forcing the president to open negotiations on the formation of a new government. In Jan., 2007, the president again approved a government headed by Topolánek that involved the same three parties, and it narrowly won a vote of confidence.

Klaus was elected to a second term as president in Feb., 2008. In July, 2008, the Czech Republic signed an agreement with the United States to base a radar system there. Russia had previously strongly objected to such an arrangement, and shortly after the signing there was a decrease in Russian oil supplies to the Czech Republic that Russia attributed to technical problems despite disbelief from the Czechs. Some 14 months later, however, a new U.S. administration suspended plans to base a ballistic missile defense system in E Europe, and the Czech government later (2011) withdrew from the revamped project.

In Mar., 2009, Topolánek's government lost a confidence vote; an interim government headed by a techocrat, Jan Fischer, was agreed to by the parties and took office in May. The May, 2010, parliamentary elections resulted in a victory for conservative and centrist parties, which won a majority of the seats. Petr NečasNečas, Petr, 1964–, Czech politician. Trained as a physicist, he graduated (1988) from Brno's Uherske Science Univ. and taught (1983–88) at Masaryk Univ., Brno......Click the link for more information., leader of the Civic Democrats, became prime minister of a center-right coalition government. In the October elections, however, the Social Democrats gained a narrow majority in the senate. In November Nečas won passage of austerity measures and survived a confidence vote but also lost his slim majority in parliament. Subsequently, a number of his government's austerity measures faced senate rejection and presidential veto.

In Jan., 2013, former prime minister Miloš Zeman was elected to succeed Klaus as president; the election was the first time that the president had been chosen directly by the voters. A corruption and abuse of power scandal that involved a close aide to the prime minister led the government to resign in June, 2013; Zeman subsequently appointed a new government headed by Jiří Rusnok despite opposition from parliament. In August, Rusnok lost a confidence vote; parliament subsequently was dissolved and new elections called. The Social Democrats won a plurality of just over 20% in the October elections, and formed (Jan., 2014) a coalition with two centrist parties; Social Democrat Bohuslav SobotkaSobotka, Bohuslav, 1971–, Czech politician. Center-left in political philosophy and a member of the Czech Social Democratic party (CSSD) from 1989, Sobotka was first elected to the Czech Chamber of Deputies in 1996......Click the link for more information. was subsequently appointed prime minister.

Czech Republic

Official name: Czech Republic

Capital city: Prague

Internet country code: .cz

Flag description: Two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red with a blue isosceles triangle based on the hoist side (identical to the flag of the former Czechoslova­kia)

Czech Republic

a country in central Europe; formed part of Czechoslovakia until 1993; mostly wooded, with lowlands surrounding the River Morava, rising to the Bohemian plateau in the W and to highlands in the N; joined the EU in 2004. Language: Czech. Religion: Christian majority. Currency: koruna. Capital Prague. Pop.: 10 226 000 (2004 est.). Area: 78 864 sq. km (30 450 sq. miles).

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